To hate the removing of character from old houses?

[Mushrooms0up]

I probably am being unreasonable as it doesn’t actually have anything to do with me. But there is a gorgeous house near where I live on a private road which came up for sale a while ago. It needed a bit of TLC but looked like a lovely, lived in family house.

It’s just come back on market for a lot more money, and I’m so sad at what’s been done. The marble tiled flooring just doesn’t match the house and the character and it just seems so sterile :(
If you like that kind of look why buy a period property? What do you all think?

Here’s the before:

www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=73256386&sale=91032045&country=england

And after: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118542002#/?channel=RES_BUY

100% with you OP. I know it’s very trendy and I like the bathroom but it looks cold and sterile. You can’t imagine the people living there are fun and warm. I’m sure they’re lovely but that’s the impression it gives me.

YANBU that is absolutely atrocious.

They have ruined it. Urgh.

Well, they can hardly replace everything, and keep it looking 150 years old inside can they? They both look OK to me, and the first one looks lovely.

So YABU (IMO.)

YANBU there was a lovely Art Deco place nearby I'd have loved to buy but couldn't afford. It's been wrecked and turned into a total travesty.

I clicked on this expecting some modernisation @Mushrooms0up but this is horrific why wouldn’t they just buy a new build?! They’ve destroyed all the original features!

@PurpleRainlnTheSky

Well, they can hardly replace everything, and keep it looking 150 years old inside can they? They both look OK to me, and the first one looks lovely.

So YABU (IMO.)

I think you might be missing the point.......

Also it's a hideous waste of the earth's resources at a time when we're supposed to be considering climate change.

@PurpleRainlnTheSky you can replace things in keeping with the character of the original house though! Not ripping out beautiful, original fireplaces would be a good start.

That is awful! . Absolutely ruined. I'm probably biased though, I own a cottage from the late 1700s full of wonky walls and two staircases with dipped stone steps and weird little nooks and crannies.

2nd is vile. Stick to new builds if you want a grey house with no personality.

Well, they can hardly replace everything, and keep it looking 150 years old inside can they?
You can replace everything IN KEEPING with the house. Ripping out those beautiful fireplaces and installing awful lighting should be a punishable offence. Sadly crimes against taste won’t be heard in a law court.

I prefer the before photos and, I admit, I only looked to confirm my assumption that you were probably being precious

The trend for massive open plan ground floors baffles me. I like rooms!

They ripped up that lovely parquet floor that was probably original and replaced it with shiny tiles, why?

I agree. I have seen so many beautiful Period properties replaced by new developments in recent years. It is possible to extend and keep character, I have several friends with Victorian and Edwardian houses where they have extended but incorporated original features and brick/woodwork/coving etc.

I mean, I actually really like the house interior! Not everyone wants a "lived in" "family" looking house, I think there's obviously a market for what they've done. Old houses are great for ceiling height and room size, but not everything old is character. Obviously everyone has different tastes!

Oh god, I didn't realise you'd posted before and afters and. was looking at the before and thinking it wasn't that bad

They've gone full footballer here haven't they? But its not like they're desecrating a medieval monastery or anything. It was only a bog standard victorian terrace beforehand, of which there are many thousands in every single town.

Its a class thing really, and I feel uncomfortable at my own instinctively snooty reaction.

This should be a crime!

That is a hideous refurbishment.

I have to admit I love the new bathrooms in the after photos, but the rest is a bit sterile for me.

Yanbu. The inside is totally wrong for the outside.

Shocking!

Yeah, the 'after' looks shit. They got rid of lovely wooden floors for tacky white floor tiles and cheap grey carpets. And as for all the spotlights and the astroturf. Naffsville central.

Is this 'house flipping'?

I agree op! First one much more comfy!

Eww, it's rather footballers wives isn't it?

Tastless waste of money.

@SmallPrawnEnergy I’m glad we’re on the same wavelength!